Who persuaded me to resume the present work, which had been thrown aside, on the ground that such labour was its own reward. Scott, for whom Fame a gorgeous garland weaves, Who what was scattered to t...

It will, probably, be expected that a new translation of the Furioso should be prefaced by some account of the versions which have preceded it; and I the more readily undertake this little task, as in...

Of loves and ladies, knights and arms, I sing, Of courtesies, and many a daring feat; And from those ancient days my story bring, When Moors from Afric passed in hostile fleet, And ravaged France, wit...

Injurious Love, why still to mar accord Between desires has been thy favourite feat? Why does it please thee so, perfidious lord, Two hearts should with a different measure beat? Thou wilt not let me ...

Who will vouchsafe me voice that shall ascend As high as I would raise my noble theme? Who will afford befitting words, and lend Wings to my verse, to soar the pitch I scheme? Since fiercer fire for s...

Though an ill mind appear in simulation, And, for the most, such quality offends; ’Tis plain that this in many a situation Is found to further beneficial ends, And save from blame, and danger, and vex...

Among all other animals who prey75 On earth, or who unite in friendly wise, Whether they mix in peace or moody fray, No male offends his mate. In safety hies The she-bear, matched with hers, through f...

Wretched that evil man who lives in trust His secret sin is safe in his possession! Since, if nought else, the air, the very dust In which the crime is buried, makes confession,78 And oftentimes his g...

The traveller, he, whom sea or mountain sunder92 From his own country, sees things strange and new; That the misjudging vulgar, which lies under The mist of ignorance, esteems untrue: Rejecting whatso...

How many enchantresses among us! oh, How many enchanters are there, though unknown! Who for their love make man or woman glow, Changing them into figures not their own. Nor this by help of spirits fro...

What cannot, when he has a heart possess’d This false and cruel traitor Love? since he Can banish from Orlando’s faithful breast Such tried allegiance and due loyalty? Wise, full of all regards, and o...

Of all the loves, of all fidelity Yet proved, of all the constant hearts and true, Of all the lovers, in felicity Or sorrow faithful found, a famous crew, To Olympia I would give the first degree Rath...

Although a feeble rein, in mid career, Will oft suffice to stop courageous horse; ’Tis seldom Reason’s bit will serve to steer Desire, or turn him from his furious course, When pleasure is in reach: l...

Ceres, when from the Idaean dame in haste Returning to the lonely valley, where Enceladus the Aetnaean mountain placed On his bolt-smitten flanks, is doomed to bear, Her girl she found not, on that pa...

Those ancient cavaliers right happy were, Born in an age, when, in the gloomy wood, In valley, and in cave, wherein the bear, Serpent, or lion, hid their savage brood, They could find that, which now ...

In many a fierce assault and conflict dread, ’Twixt Spain and Afric and their Gallic foe, Countless had been the slain, whose bodies fed The ravening eagle, wolf, and greedy crow; But though the Frank...

Though Conquest fruit of skill or fortune be, To conquer always is a glorious thing. ’Tis true, indeed, a bloody victory Is to a chief less honour wont to bring; And that fair field is famed eternally...

Love’s penalties are manifold and dread: Of which I have endured the greater part, And, to my cost, in these so well am read, That I can speak of them as ’twere my art. Hence if I say, or if I ever sa...

God, outraged by our rank iniquity, Whenever crimes have past remission’s bound, That mercy may with justice mingled be, Has monstrous and destructive tyrants crowned; And gifted them with force and s...

High minded lord! your actions evermore I have with reason lauded, and still laud; Though I with style inapt, and rustic lore, You of large portion of your praise defraud: But, of your many virtues, o...

By whom he is beloved can no one know, Who on the top of Fortune’s wheel is seated; Since he, by true and faithless friends, with show Of equal faith, in glad estate is greeted. But, should felicity b...

Great fears the women of antiquity In arms and hallowed arts as well have done, And of their worthy works the memory And lustre through this ample world has shone. Praised is Camilla, with Harpalicé,2...

No cord I well believe is wound so tight Round chest, nor nails the plank so fastly hold, As Faith enwraps an honourable sprite In its secure, inextricable, fold; Nor holy Faith, it seems, except in w...

Ye courteous dames, and to your lovers dear, You that are with one single love content; Though, ’mid so many and many, it is clear Right few of you are of such constant bent; Be not displeased at what...

Let each assist the other in his need; Seldom good actions go without their due; And if their just reward should not succeed, At least, nor death, nor shame, nor loss ensue. Who wrongs another, the re...

Let him make haste his feet to disengage, Nor lime his wings, whom Love has made a prize; For love, in fine, is nought but phrensied rage, By universal suffrage of the wise: And albeit some may show t...

Oh! mighty springs of war in youthful breast, Impetuous force of love, and thirst of praise! Nor yet which most avails is known aright: For each by turns its opposite outweighs. Within the bosom here ...

In former ages courteous ladies were, Who worshipt virtue, and not worldly gear. Women in this degenerate age are rare, To whom aught else but sordid gain is dear; But they who real goodness make thei...

A woman for the most part reasons best Upon a sudden motion, and untaught; For with that special grace the sex is blest, ’Mid those so many gifts, wherewith ’tis fraught; But man, of a less nimble wit...

Ladies, and all of you that ladies prize, Afford not, for the love of heaven, an ear To this, the landlord’s tale, replete with lies, In shame and scorn of womankind; though ne’er Was praise or fame c...

O feeble and unstable minds of men! How quickly our intentions fluctuate! All thoughts we lightly change, but mostly when These from some lover’s quarrel take their date. But now, so wroth I saw that ...

When Reason, giving way to heat of blood, Herself from hasty choler ill defends, And, hurried on by blind and furious mood, We with the tongue or hand molest our friends, Though the offence is, after,...

What sweeter, gladder, state could be possest Than falls to the enamoured bosom’s share? What happier mode of life, what lot more blest, Than evermore the chains of love to wear? Were not the lover, ’...

I recollect that I was bound to sing (I promised so, but it escaped my mind) Of a suspicion, fraught with suffering To Bradamant of more displeasing kind, And made by keener and more venomed sting Tha...

Timagoras, Parrhasius, Polygnote,386 Protogenes, renowned Apollodore, Timanthes, and Apelles, first of note, Zeuxis and others, famed heretofore, Whose memory down the stream of Time will float, While...

O fierce and hungry harpies, that on blind And erring Italy so full have fed!424 Whom, for the scourge of ancient sins designed, Haply just Heaven to every board has sped. Innocent children, pious mot...

Madonna, who will scale the high ascent Of heaven, to me my judgment to restore, Which, since from your bright eyes the weapon went, That pierced my heart, is wasting evermore? Yet will not I such mig...

Where’er they be, all hearts of gentle strain Still cannot choose but courtesy pursue; For they from nature and from habit gain What they henceforth can never more undo. Alike the heart that is of chu...

If, as in seeking other gift to gain, (For Nature, without study, yieldeth nought) With mighty diligence, and mickle pain, Illustrious women day and night have wrought; And if with good success the fe...

Ye courteous ladies, who unto my strain Kind audience lend⁠—I read it in your cheer⁠— That good Rogero should depart again So suddenly, from her that held him dear, Displeases ye, and scarce inflicts ...

Than that fell woe which on Rogero weighs, Harder and bitterer pain forsooth is none, Which upon flesh and more on spirit preys: For of two deaths there is no scaping one. Him, if in strife o’erlaid, ...

The diverse chances of that sea-fight dread, Here to rehearse would take a weary while; And to discourse to you upon this head, Great son of Hercules, were to Samos’ isle To carry earthen vessels, as ...

The odour which well-fashioned bear or hair, Of that which find and dainty raiment steeps Of gentle stripling, or of damsel fair, —Who often love awakens, as she weeps⁠— If it ooze forth and scent the...

What bit, what iron curb is to be found, Or (could it be) what adamantine rein, That can make wrath keep order and due bound, And within lawful limits him contain? When one, to whom the constant heart...

O execrable avarice! O vile thirst Of sordid gold! it doth not me astound So easily thou seizest soul, immersed In baseness, or with other taint unsound; But that thy chain should bind, amid the worst...

In poor abode, ’mid paltry walls and bare, Amid discomforts and calamities, Often in friendship heart united are, Better than under roof of lordly guise, Or in some royal court, beset with snare, Mid ...

By how much higher we see poor mortal go On Fortune’s wheel, which runs a restless round, We so much sooner see his head below His heels; and he is prostrate on the ground. The Lydian, Syracusan, Sami...

I, if my chart deceives me not, shall now In little time behold the neighbouring shore; So hope withal to pay my promised vow To one, so long my guide through that wide roar Of waters, where I feared,...

A second wheat harvest follows closely upon the first in some parts of Tuscany. ↩ Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner. ↩ Thus translated obscurely, but more accurately, by Huggins: Towards the west I came alo...